Mall of the Emirates expansion

In early 2013, Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East and North Africa, set the original design team a challenge – to improve on one of the largest and most successful shopping malls in the world.

Opportunity

Mall of the Emirates in Dubai was officially opened in 2005 to world-wide acclaim. Future expansion was not a consideration at the time given the immense size of the mall, but in early 2013 our client challenged us to improve and expand the mall. The project was named Evolution 2015.

Solution

Both the retail and car park expansion included seismic strengthening to comply with new regulation. This was achieved by vertical expansion only, converting the roof of the mall into a third retail level. In addition an extra level was added to the existing car park providing an extra 750 car spaces. The expansion has provided increased revenue without the cost of purchasing additional land.

Outcome

During the initial design stage our innovative approach combining basic design principals with imagination and lower cost, locally available raw materials to save time and money led to this new challenge of the mall extension. During the entire construction phase, lasting approximately 20 months, the mall remained fully operational with minimal disruption to the 40 million visitors per year. Our client is extremely satisfied and impressed with the success of the project and as a result has engaged us to undertake feasibility studies into further expansion of the mall.